Testing...testing, can anyone hear me.

Apparently when they put you though the full range of IF testing, they take lots and lots of blood.  And when I say lots and lots I mean they took a grand total of 22 vials out of my two arms.

I would have sworn there were vampires in the lab if I didn't know any better.

And to make matters worse, I get a call from my RE yesterday she wanted to run one more test because my prolactin levels were a little elevated.  The nurse said it was nothing to be alarmed by, but she thought maybe I wasn't fasting (which I was) or maybe that could be an issue, so back to the lab we go.  I really hope I have some blood left to take.

And in case you were wondering, I'm not the only one going through testing. "D" gets to have a little blood work done and lucky him they only took 4 vials.  But he gets to make the ultimate donation of a sperm sample because they have to do a semen analysis to check to make sure he's got some good swimmers, personally I'm praying for the Michael Phelps of sperm.

If at first you don't succeed...

Try and try again.

And try and try and try we did.  But nothing seemed to be working, I've always had some longer than usual cycles but over the last couple of years they were getting worse and worse.  I went to my OB/GYN for my annual visit and he did an ultrasound and all kinds of blood work, they were trying to rule out PCOS or polycystic ovary syndrome, and between the blood work and the ultrasound they did manage to rule it out.


But that still didn't solve my problem or answer any of my questions, why did I have these long cycles and why after almost three years am I not pregnant.


I still wasn't real happy with the answers that I got, so I went to see a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE) and the appointment went great she went over all the blood work already drawn and she did a t/v ultrasound, yet again violated, but it wasn’t so bad, she was playing hide and seek with my ovaries.

She also think my fertility issues are not caused by PCOS but are caused by weight issues, weight issues that I've suffered with all of my life.  Apparently I’m too girly I make too much estrogen so it causes the fat cells to build up in the estrogen and save it for later, so no matter how much diet and exercise I do, probably not going to get rid of it, but she was happy to hear that I was doing South Beach. So it’s really not my fault I’m fat, I have an excuse, which was such a good thing to hear, other then just you're fat you should diet.

Depending on what the blood works says she wants to put me on Metformin  she thinks that will help break it down the estrogen and regulate me, she thinks this is the cause of my issues and that I’m not actually ovulating…kinda helps to ovulate to get pregnant huh?? She’s going to try that for 3 or 4 months and then if that doesn’t work then she’s going to try some clomid but she’s confident that she can help me.

I'm so happy that I went to see her.

First comes love...

Then come marriage, and then comes the wait for the baby carriage, and wait is what we did.

It's been a long wait for something that we both wanted so much, we pretty much had names picked out even before we got married, and now over three years later that baby carriage is still empty.

This is our journey to start our little flock, after a few appointments, vials and vials of blood drawn, I want to be able to look back at this when I have our little miracle, and see how it was all worth it.

TTC FYI: YKWIM

Sometimes all the acronyms can get so confusing.  And if you're wondering what that jumble on the top of the title was here is a list  of everything you need to know.  I will try not to write in code (too much) but I can't guarantee anything.

#
2WW - Two-week wait until time to take pregnancy test (approximately 14 days after ovulation)

A
AE – Alter Ego
AF - Aunt Flo (menstruation)
AI - Artificial Insemination
AMA - Advanced maternal age
AO - Anovulatory
AP - Adoption Process
AR - Assisted Reproduction
ART - Assisted Reproductive Technology
AW - Attention whore

B
BBs - Breasts
BC - Birth Control
BCP - Birth Control Pills
BBT - Basal Body Temperature
BD - Baby Dance (baby making sex)
BF or BF'ing - Breastfeeding
BFN or BF0 - Big Fat Negative (home pregnancy test result)
BFP - Big Fat Positive (home pregnancy test result)
BIL - Brother-in-Law
BIO - The Nest Baby Community Bio
BM - Bowel Movement or Breast Milk
BOTB - Baby on the Brain (The Nest message board)
BR – Baby Related
BRU - Babies R Us Store
BSC - Bat Sh*t Crazy
BTW - By the way
BW or B/W - Blood Work

C
C&P – Copy and Paste
CB - Cycle Buddy
CBEFM - Clear Blue Easy Fertility Monitor
CCT – Clomid Challenge Test
CD - Cycle day
CDs - Cloth Diapers
CF - Cervical fluid
CIO - Cry It Out
CL - Corpus Luteum
CM - Cervical Mucus
CNM - Certified Nurse Midwife
Colpo - Colposcopy
CP - Cervical position
CVS - Chorionic Villae Sampling

D
D&C - Dilation & Curettage
DC - Dear/Darling Child
DD - Dear/Darling Daughter or Designated Driver
DD - Dirty Delete (a post) - try not to do this
DE - Donor Eggs
D&E - Dilation & Evacuation
DH - Dear/Darling Husband
DI - Donor Insemination
DOR - Diminished Ovarian Reserve
DPO - Days past ovulation
DPR = Days Post-Retrieval (eggs)
DPT = Days Post-Transfer
DS - Dear/Darling Son
DTD – Doing the Deed (non-baby related sex)

E
E2 - Estradiol
EBF - Exclusively Breastfed
EBM - Expressed Breast Milk
EDD - Estimated Due Date
EFF - Exclusively Formula Fed
ENDO - Endometriosis
EP - Exclusively Pump
EPT - Early Pregnancy Test
ER - Emergency Room
ET - Embryo Transfer
ETA - Edit to The Above
EWCM - Egg White Cervical Mucus

F
FET - Frozen Embryo Transfer
FF or FF'ing - Formula Feeding
FFFC - Flame-Free Friday Confession
FFS - For F*uck Sake
FIL – Father in Law
FM - Fertility Monitor
FWP - F* With Purpose (baby making sex)
FMU - First morning urine
FP - Follicular Phase
FRER - First Response Early Response
FSH - Follicle Stimulating Hormone
FTR - For the Record
FTTA - Fertile Thoughts To All
F/U – Follow Up
FWIW – For What It’s Worth

G
G2G – as an alternative for GTG
GB - God Bless
GBCN - Good Bye Cruel Nest
GBY - God Bless You
GF - Girlfriend
GMA - Geriatric Maternal Age
GP - General Practitioner
GTG – Nestie get together
GTKYT - Get To Know You Thursday (theme day)

H
HCG - Human Chorionic Gonadotropin
H&H - Happy and Healthy
H&H9M – Happy and Healthy nine months
HOM - High Order Multiples
HPT - Home Pregnancy Test
HRT - Hormone Replacement Therapy
HSC - Hysteroscopy
HSG – Hysterosalpingogram
HTH – Hope That Helps

I
IB - Implantation Bleeding
IC - Incompetent Cervix
IBS - Irritable Bowel Syndrome
ICSI - Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection
IDK - I Don't Know
IF - Infertility
IHO – In honor of
IIRC – if I remember correctly
IL’s – In-laws
IM – Intramuscular Injections
IMO – in my opinion
IMHO - In my humble opinion
IMNSHO – in my not so humble opinion
IR- Insulin Resistant
IRL - In Real Life
ITA – I totally agree
IUI - Intra-uterine Insemination
IVF - In Vitro Fertilization

J
JK - just kidding
JMHO - Just My Humble Opinion
JMO - just my opinion


K
KU - Knocked Up
KWIM - Know What I Mean

L
LAP - Laparoscopy
LH - Luteinizing Hormone
LIP – Link in Post
LMAO -  laughing my ass off
LMFAO - laughing my fat ass off
LMP - Last Menstrual Period
LO - Little One
LOL - Laughing Out loud
LP - Luteal phase
LPD - Luteal Phase Defect
LTD – Long Term Disability

M
MC - Miscarriage
MF or MFI - Male Factor Infertility
MIL – Mother in Law
M/S or MS - Morning Sickness
MUD – Made up Drama

N
NAK - Nursing at the Keyboard
NBR - Not Baby Related
NFO - Not Finding Out (gender)
NFP - Natural Family Planning
NFT – No Further Text or thoughts
NIP - Nursing In Public
NL – Normal
NMS – Not my style
NP - Nurse Practitioner
NTD - Neural Tube Defect
NWT - New With Tag

O
O - Ovulation
OB - Obstetrician
OB/GYN - Obstetrician/Gynecologist
OC - Oral Contraceptives
OHSS - Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome
OOT – Out of town
OPK - Ovulation Predictor Kit
OPT - Ovulation Predictor Test
OTC - Over-the-counter
OTOH - On The Other Hand
OV - Ovulation
OWT - Old Wives Tale

P
P4 - Progesterone
PA - Physician's Assistant
PC - Post-Coital (after sex)
PCO, PCOD - Polycystic Ovary Disease
PCOS (POS) - Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
PCP - Primary Care Physician
PCT - Post-Coital Test
PG - Pregnancy or Pregnant
PH - Puffy Heart
PI - Primary Infertility
PIAC - Pee In A cup
PIB – Picture in Bio
PID - Pelvic Inflammatory Disease
PIH - Pregnancy Induced Hypertension
PIO – Progesterone in Oil
PIP – Picture in post
PIT – Pitocin
PITA - Pain in the Ass
PM – Private Message
PMS - Premenstrual Syndrome
PNV - Prenatal vitamin
POAS - Pee On A Stick
POF – Premature Ovarian Failure
POMF - Pee on My Fingers
Pough - Pee+Cough
POTW - Picture of The Week
PP - Previous Poster or PostPartum
PPH - Pink Puffy Heart Or Purple Puffy Heart
PR - Pregnancy Related
PROM - Premature Rupture of Membranes
PSA – Public service announcement
PTL - Preterm labor
PW – Posting Whore
PZ - PregnantZilla (self-centered pregnant woman)

R
RE - Reproductive Endocrinologist
ROTFL - Rolling on the floor laughing
RP - Repost
RPL - Recurrent Pregnancy Loss
RSA - Recurrent Spontaneous Abortion
Rx - Prescription

S
S/A - Sperm/semen analysis
SA – Semen Analysis
SAHD - Stay At Home Dad
SAHM - Stay At Home Mom
SAHW - Stay At Home Wife
SAIFW - Success After InFertility Welcome
SFL - Save For Later
SHG - Sonohysterogram
SI - Secondary Infertility
SIL – Sister in Law
SN – Screen Name
Sniss - Sneeze+pee
SO – Significant Other
S/O – Spin Off or Speaking Of
SonoHSG - Sonohysterogram
STD - Short Term Disability
STFU - Shut The F*ck Up

T
TCOYF - Taking Charge of Your Fertility (book)
TIA – Thanks in Advance
TL - Tubal Ligation
TMI - To Much Information
TR - Tubal Reversal
TRH - Thyroid Releasing Hormone                    
TSH - Thyroid Stimulating Hormone
TTA - Trying to Avoid
TTC - Trying To Conceive
TX – Treatment
TY – Thank you

U
UC - Unassisted Childbirth
US or u/s - Ultrasound
UTI - Urinary Tract Infection

V
V - Vasectomy
VBAC - Vaginal birth after caesarian
VR - Vasectomy Reversal

W
WAHM/D - Work at home mom/dad
WBC - White Blood Cells
WDYT – What do you think?
WOHM/D - Work outside home mom/dad
WTEWE - What to Expect When You're Expecting (book)
WTEBE – What to Expect Before You’re Expecting (book)
WWYD – What would you do?

X
XH – Ex-Husband
XP – cut and paste or Cross Post

Y
YGM - you've got mail
YGPM - you've got private message
YI - Yeast infection
YKWIM - You Know What I Mean
YWIA - you're welcome in advance